According to US officials h1n1 is “widespread”. WIDESPREAD! Ever seen ‘I am Legend’ with Will Smith? Well neither did I, but at any rate, we’ll be living in some sort of post-apocalypse by spring time (Mr. Smith does an excellent job of demonstrating how to protect yourself from those already infected with h1n1).

At any rate, even though you have every reason to fear, you don’t have to worry about a thing. According to BBC news, “The White House said the president signed the proclamation concerning the 2009 h1n1 outbreak on Friday evening.” Yes he did! Many countries are preparing even now for this pandemic.

Whew! I was worried there until I heard that! According to some more US officials (they have a lot of officials) the president’s declaration was “similar to ones issued before hurricanes make landfall.” So we basically have nothing to worry about then. The government is just looking out for the people!

I’m gonna be a history maker in this land
I’m gonna be a speaker of truth to all mankind

Then I read this quote that I’d heard before,

The future will be kind to us, for we intend to write it. Sir Winston Churchill.

And I thought, “what might this mean for the Church?” I mean, I’m not saying the we’re getting any better as we progress along through space and time. But what if, the Church can be a community that writes (or at least shapes) the future (and as a result the past?)? In fact, I think maybe we have to believe that. Provided that we agree that the Church is a living Body in which God, by his Spirit, dwells, then I don’t think it’s any stretch to say that the Church could write the future.

But if you’re trying to make history, then you’re stuck in the past. God’s Kingdom is coming. Just something I’m thinking about.

This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote for a class comparing some accounts of early Christian teaching.

4) The way things are at the moment is not how they were meant to be, nor will creation remain in this state. God is putting the world to rights (1 Cor. 15:20-6, 54-8; Acts 3:21). Paul paints a beautiful picture of Jesus’ resurrection, and it’s power for the rest of creation, in his first letter to the Corinthians. Here we see the resurrection described as the “firstfruits” of the rest of humanity that has “fallen asleep” (15:20-6). Death may have entered creation through Adam, but through Jesus life bursts forth in victory for all of creation: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive,” (15:22). Then, after he has defeated all worldly dominions, authorities and powers, and has put all the enemies of God under his feet, he will deliver to death its final blow and hand the kingdom over to his Father (15:24-6). We see this thought echoed later in the letter when the “perishable [is] clothed with the imperishable,” and Death itself is taunted in the grave: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (15:54-5). Peter expresses a similar thought in Acts when he says Christ will not return until God is ready to “restore everything,” (3:21).

PLEASE NOTE: The article that I post here contains *very* explicit material and should probably not be read by folks under a certain age or without parental consent (although me saying this will probably encourage those folks to read anyways). Please know that some of the language and descriptions are very crude and humiliating. That being said, I think this is an extremely important issue in our culture and highlights even greater issues. As the article highlights the degradation of humans (explicitly, females, but males as well) it is *vital* that we think and meditate on how anti-human these sorts of acts are and how, in contrast, the One True God might judge an industry that turns humans into a commodity and sex into something that is no longer recognizable as the good thing it was made to be.

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“Those in the films are puppets, packaged female commodities. They have no honest emotions, are devoid of authentic human beauty and resemble plastic.”

In response to the title of the article, ‘The Victims of Pornography’, I would ask the question, WHO are the victims of pornography. To which the only answer can be, we ALL are.

The martyrdom of St. Ignatius.

"...My birth pangs are at hand. Bear with me, my brothers. Do not hinder me from living: do not wish for my death...Allow me to receive the pure light; when I arrive there I shall be a real man." - S. Ignatius on his way to his martyrdom in Rome.